Bitchin' Blog Posts
: History
October 18, 2011 | Tuesday | 106 Comments
Cross dressing is an old and familiar plot trope in romance. We’ve talked about it here before, and there’s a pretty thorough list at AAR of all the cross dressing romances they’ve cataloged. I joke (A LOT) about how oddly easy it is for heroines to easily pass as boys. So many romance heroines years past puberty have grabbed some boys clothing, possibly from a well-hipped stable lad, I presume, and shoved a cap on their heads and presto! Everyone thinks she’s a boy. Yet there is an amazing history of “passing women,” women who “passed” as men, often marrying…
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March 16, 2011 | Wednesday | 6 Comments
First, from Julie and many others: the best self-portraits in the history of the world. Alex Holder, she of the Awesome Blonde Hair, commissioned these portraits as part of Women’s Day. Can we all take a moment to marvel at her boyfriend’s mustache? And ponder where they found that beige turtleneck - and that teal jumpsuit?! Well played, Ms. Holder. Well played. Second, in a totally different direction, last week I was a keynote speaker at PubCamp, talking about reader issues and the bad news and good news from a reader’s perspective. The text of my speech is online at…
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January 24, 2011 | Monday | 34 Comments
I have so many memories wrapped up in this book. There’s the time when I was 15, and it was one of two romance novels I took with me when I was an exchange student. And there’s that other time, a few years ago when I journeyed out to a booksigning hosted by the Dunes & Dreams Chapter of RWA (it’s on eastern Long Island. To get there, drive until you’re just about in Europe, then stop), and met Bertrice Small - who then, I am not even kidding, invited me into her home to see the original etchings for…
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August 17, 2010 | Tuesday | 53 Comments
Sarah (not me, though my whole reading history is one big HaBO in my brain what with my inability to remember titles) asks for your help with a Harlequin Presents: I’m trying to find a Harlequin Presents, which was used when I bought it at least fifteen years ago—-since this is like trying to find a specific needle in a needle factory, I need help! The heroine ia a young girl with long, bright red hair (this is important). Impoverished of course (the girl, not the hair). She somehow bumps into a rich man who thinks she’s a wild, irresponsible…
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June 08, 2010 | Tuesday | 12 Comments
Song of Seduction is a fiercely turbulent and emotional story set in Austria in the early 1800s - in winter. It’s cold and passionate at the same time, with the greatest passion portrayed not by the characters but by the music they make. Mathilda Heidel is a hidden prodigy: she can play the violin by ear, mimicking perfectly and improvising instantly any piece she hears, despite a very little amount of instruction. But she’s buried her gifts for years in response to a notorious and painful childhood and a very pedestrian marriage that ended in her husband’s sudden death. When…
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March 08, 2010 | Monday | 123 Comments
Pam Rosenthal’s book The Slightest Provocation is being re-released with a new cover, which she wrote about over at the History Hoydens blog, (which is a rather awesome author collaborative blog and totally worth reading weekly, yo). The old cover, as Rosenthal put it, would appeal to readers who might be “in the mood for something improving and uplifting.” And the new cover? Rosenthal highlights the fact that it is encoded with, “hawt.” Since it features her “angriest, sweatiest, most contentious pair of lovers,” Rosenthal is quite pleased with the visual encoding of the new cover: I am SO impressed,…
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February 15, 2010 | Monday | 8 Comments
First: Are you in or around Connecticut? Mark 27 February at 12 noon and head on over to scenic and ebullient Fairfield, CT, for the Romance Revealed Workshop at the Fairfield Public Library. I’ll be on a panel talking about romance with Toni Andrews and Kristan Higgins. I’ll be the one trying not to squee like a fangirl. The library event does require registration. For more information you can contact the Fairfield Public Library at 203-256-3160. I hope you’ll come - library programs are awesome. If that’s too far away, I recently did an interview with Scott Farrell, a very…
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December 16, 2009 | Wednesday | 13 Comments
When I saw the news on Twitter that Salon Magazine picked Barry Eisler’s Fault Line as a top book of 2009, I realized I’d been a complete slacker and hadn’t reviewed it, though I read the book in a gulping, cringing marathon of reading. I’ve been pondering books that have The Crack in them - you cannot put them down - and this was definitely one for me. First, a few warnings. It’s not a romance, but it’s tense and packed with elements that are so realistically drawn that they could be possible - which is a key element in…
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November 14, 2009 | Saturday | 9 Comments
Avon is offering a free PDF short story - and I realize this has been news for a few days now, so my apologies for the late breaking-ness.
Deeper Than Desire is a free companion short story to Caroline Linden’s December release, For Your Arms Only.
It’s about 48 pages, and while it makes giant jumps in time and moves quickly through the sequence of history that affects the hero and heroine, it also sets up the family and backstory of the December book. If you read it, let me know what you think.
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October 30, 2009 | Friday | 22 Comments
Chris sent me this jaw-dropping amazing video that’s a feast for the ears, the brain, the eyes and the imagination: “We Are All Connected” was made from sampling Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The History Channel’s Universe series, Richard Feynman’s 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye’s Eyes of Nye Series.
Dude. Awesome. May you have a weekend full of wonderment.
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October 07, 2009 | Wednesday | 30 Comments
I first read about this book in the recent Wall Street Journal article about Amish books and how they are huge sellers right now. I was curious about the books themselves, both as romances and as fiction that’s popular with Christian readers. I grew up in Pennsylvania, and spent a lot of time as a kid driving through southern PA towards New Jersey, passing through a lot of Amish country, particularly Lancaster County. I’m passing familiar with Amish society and its rules, and have a lot of respect for a people who eschew modern conveniences due to their beliefs. The…
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September 30, 2009 | Wednesday | 17 Comments
Katherine writes: It’s a historical I read back in jr. high/high school that I’m guessing was written in the late 80’s/early-mid-90’s. I don’t remember any character names or the title, but the basic plot (as I remember it) is the heroine is the last of a line of Scottish smugglers working to circumnavigate that pesky oppressive British government. The hero is an English customs officer set to figure out who this obnoxiously successful smuggler is, bring him (because who would suspect a woman) to justice and shut down the operation. All sorts of fun ensues, including a hefty chunk of…
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September 22, 2009 | Tuesday | 11 Comments
Despite the focus on romance novels in the hot pink palace, I buy many other different types of books, including cookbooks (boy is that a problem), computer instruction guides, and children’s books. This past week I’ve found two children’s products - one book and one DVD/CD - that have rocked my socks enough that I wanted to spread the word. My older son, known online as Freebird, has a book from Sleeping Bear Press called “H is for Homerun.” It’s an alphabetical poem with verses about baseball, from “A is for the All Stars,” to my favorite, “Z is for…
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September 12, 2009 | Saturday | 4 Comments
A house full of Jacks is not a winning hand for Mariah Eller. She knows she is in trouble when she is called to her inn to help deal with a group of trouble-making noblemen using fictitious names like Jack Sprat and Jack B. Nimble. She doesn’t know just how much trouble, even when she realizes that one of those trouble makers was her future king. Soon, she finds herself pressured to be a mistress to a prince and a bride to one of his subjects. I loved this book. Betina Krahn picked an interesting time for the setting –…
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September 03, 2009 | Thursday | 6 Comments
I was tickled pink when the magic box of future books showed up on my front porch. The Sony 505 is a thing of beauty. It’s sleek, fits nicely in my purse, and impresses people in meetings. Not having Internet at my house, I took a laptop to my favorite bar (it’s like a coffee shop, right?), sat down at my bar stool and ignored the scowly face of James Joyce on the wall next to me as I set up my new toy. The “Quick Start Guide” was not really quick. Nor did it really get me started and…
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